Category — Local Talent

Arts Council of Tamworth is going a little crazy with cabin fever, just like the rest of y’all. That’s why we’re giving you not one but TWO chances to get out of your house this month, on the same weekend. On Friday, March 19, come hear sublime vocalist and songwriter Linda Waterfall, dubbed “Seattle’s Top Singer/Songwriter” by the Seattle Times, in a concert featuring songs from her latest album Welcome to the Dark at the Tamworth Congregational Church at 7:30 p.m. And on Saturday, March 20 at 7:30 kick up your heels and shake off the mud season blues with Jonathan Sarty & his White Mountain Boys at The Brass Heart Inn in Chocorua, NH.

Waterfall, who has been recording and performing since 1977, has received wide acclaim for her innovative songwriting, unique guitar style, and lyrical resonant vocals. Folk Alliance Newsletter calls her “one of the finest fingerpicking guitar players alive on planet Earth today.” Tom Surowicz of the Twin Cities Reader says she’s “an extraordinary folk musician… [who] plays bristling, driving guitar and rolling, enveloping piano. If all that weren’t enough, Ms. Waterfall is a moving, terrific singer, blessed with star-of-the-choir pipes.” As a special treat, we get to see her play accompanied by some of this area’s own stars of the choir, Peg Loughran, Lisa Ferguson, Peggy Johnson, Belle Stafford, Seth Austen and Beverly Woods. Listen to more of Waterfall’s music on MySpace (“Fishing for Kisses”—ah, so sweet…).

Jonathan Sarty and his White Mountain Boys have built a wildly devoted audience from here to Nashville and back. The band plays both classic American music—from old-time country and honky-tonk to soul, gospel and rhythm & blues—and original tunes with such energy and virtuosity that you won’t be able to stop yourboot from tapping or your hands from clapping. Come dance the night away, in the beautiful Brass Heart Inn barn, to Jonathan’s great vocals and purposeful lyrics, and the full country sound of this beloved five-piece band, featuring slide guitar, rhythm guitars, stand-up bass, vocals and harmonica. Cash bar available. Hear a great bunch of Sarty and his WMB’s songs on MySpace (I love “I’m a White Mountain Boy”—and “I’ve Got A Home,” so romantic…)

Tickets for both these performances are available below. Tickets are also available at The Other Store in Tamworth Village, or by calling 603-323-8104. Tickets for Linda Waterfall are $15 for adults and $8 for students 13 to 18 and college students with a valid ID. Kids 12 & under are free, but require a ticket reservation to guarantee a seat. Tickets for the White Mountain Boys are $20 for adults and $10 for students 13 & up, free for kids, as above. Want to join in the madness with us? Buy tickets to both shows and save $5 off the combined price, or scroll down to purchase tickets to each show individually.

Waterfall/Sarty—Adult: $30

Waterfall/Sarty—Student: $13

Waterfall/Sarty—Child: Free

Linda Waterfall—Adult: $15

Linda Waterfall—Student: $8

Linda Waterfall—Child: Free

Jonathan Sarty & his White Mountain Boys—Adult: $20

Jonathan Sarty & his White Mountain Boys—Student: $10

Jonathan Sarty & his White Mountain Boys—Child: Free

Jonathan Sarty & his White Mountain Boys is made possible through the generous support of Sponsors The Brass Heart Inn, P. C. Hoag & Co., and Settlers’ Green Outlet Village, Co-sponsors Paul L. King Surveying, Northway Bank, Ossipee Insurance, and Yankee Smokehouse, Media Sponsor 93.5 WMWV | Magic 104FM and Press Partners The Conway Daily Sun and The Mountain Ear.

Email us here or comment below and we’ll post some of your picks on Valentine’s Day.

Here are two of mine:

This gets filed under Local Talent, too, because of course Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads is Ralph and Lo’s daughter.

Posted for Katie O’Connell:

Sweet Life Revue. Click on photo to view larger.

Sandwich Aid Unplugged for Haiti

Saturday, February 13th, 7 p.m.

Dragonfly Yoga Barn, North Sandwich, NH

Idol Hands, Neal Hill Caravan Band, and Sweet Life Revue in concert (with special guest performers)

$20 advance ticket sales; only 85 tickets will be sold! People are welcome to donate more than the ticket price. Checks can be made out to Dragonfly Yoga in the event that people would like to donate but are unable to attend (please put “Haiti” in the memo line).

Tickets available at Mocha Rizing, Dragonfly Yoga Barn, and from Sheila Brown at the Federated Church at Sunday services prior to the event.

For more information email Katie at dragonflyoga@gmail.com or call Sheila Brown: 569-3922

All proceeds will go to www.watermissions.org.

We are hoping people will carpool as much as possible, and we remind guests that the studio is a socks or barefoot space. Prize awarded to the best socks!

Now that the sled dog races in Chocorua have been canceled, all the more reason to come snowshoe and listen to stories beside a warm fire. Tickets will be on sale at the door for Fireside Storytelling at Tin Mountain tomorrow. Storytelling starts at 3:30, snowshoe excursions begin at 1:00, with plenty of Tin Mountain snowshoes available for use, and good things to eat and drink will be available in between.

Your snowshoe storytellers will be Matt Krug and Joan Veilleux:

Matt Krug is known throughout the valley as a teacher, naturalist, and star watcher. His stories draw from each of these experiences. These stories often include animals, farms, and objects from the night sky. He will be telling a story about winter and how the big dipper got into the sky.

Joan Veilleux is from Brownfield, Maine. While working as a naturalist for the AMC in 2003 she discovered a love for storytelling. In the evenings at the Highland Center Lodge and on the trail she told stories of the history of Crawford Notch and the White Mountains. Since then Joan has presented on numerous occasions with the Mountain Storytellers Guild at libraries, coffee shops and fundraisers in and around the Mount Washington Valley.

You can find out more about this event and the afternoon’s storytellers here.

Stay warm…

"Black Rock", open accordion book by Jay Rancourt

On Saturday, February 6, ACT! for Kids presents a Bookmaking Workshop with Jay Rancourt, for kids ages 9 & up. The workshop runs from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. (please note this is a change from the originally scheduled time) at the Cook Memorial Library in Tamworth. Books are defined here as content held together under protective, decorative covers. Within this basic definition, the possibilities are endless. Book arts encompass many different disciplines—painting, sculpture, writing, sewing, printing, and structural engineering all come into play. The process of making a book begins in the imagination. A memory, an event, a visual image, or a dream becomes the kernel of an idea. Through a period of extended play and exploration, the idea grows into a book.

Local artist and librarian extraordinaire Jay Rancourt has been making books for ten years, and teaches classes in this and other media. She exhibits her artist’s books, paintings, prints and silk paintings locally and in Portland, ME.

The cost for this workshop is $3. Any questions, call Jay Rancourt at the Cook Library, 323-8510. To register, send an email to act@artstamworth.org or call 603-323-8104. Sign up early: enrollment is limited.

ACT! for Kids is made possible by The Rey Foundation. Upcoming ACT! for Kids programs include Chicken Art on Saturday, March 13, and storyteller Simon Brooks, back by popular demand, on April 1. Information about future ACT! for Kids workshops can be found here.

This just in from Becca (Boyden, ATTP Managing Director):

Advice To The Players has been nominated for six awards for their 2009 theatre season, and has been invited to perform a scene from Shakespeare’s ‘Henry V’ onstage at the Palace Theatre in Manchester on February 5. ‘Henry V’ was nominated for Best Production in the professional Drama/Comedy category as well as garnering nominations for Caroline Nesbitt as Best Director and Patrick Hornig for Best Sound Designer. Advice To The Players summer show, Shakespeare’s ‘The Winter’s Tale’, also received three nominations. Heather Hamilton was nominated for Best Actress for her performance of Hermione, and Bob Bates and Lisa Thompson each received Supporting Actor nominations for their performances as Antigonus and Paulina.

“’Henry V’ and ‘The Winter’s Tale’ are not the easiest stories in the world” says Caroline, who directed both productions. “I am humbled by and grateful for our amazing company, and thrilled to have its incredible work recognized.”

Heading up the company for the performance will be acting Artistic Director, Mark Woollett, who will be directing the March 2010 production of  ‘Hamlet’. The twelve-member ensemble, armed with broadswords, will be recreating part of the famous Battle of Agincourt for the popular awards show. Tickets for the show, which is at the Palace Theatre in Manchester on Friday, February 5 at 7 pm, are available by calling 668-5588, or online at palacetheatre.org.

Three MWV Nonprofits Combine Efforts to Present a Winter Afternoon of Stories by the Fire, Snowshoeing, and Good Cheer

On Sunday, January 31, at 3:30 p.m., Arts Council of Tamworth (ACT), Tin Mountain Conservation Center, and the Mountain Storytellers Guild join forces to present an afternoon of New England stories told around the fire in Tin Mountain’s Great Room. Vermont storyteller, writer, and TV and radio personality Willem Lange will headline, accompanied by Guild storytellers Olga Morrill, David Neufeld and Jo Radner.

Optional snowshoe and story excursions will precede the event. Participants can choose from a family snowshoe with short stories along the way, or an adult snowshoe with a ghostly mountaineering story that takes place on Mount Washington.  Snowshoe excursions and use of Tin Mountain snowshoes are included in the ticket price for the storytelling, and constitute at least the bargain of the new decade. Please arrive by 1:00 if you wish to take part in the snowshoe excursion.

After the excursions, and before the main event, homemade soups, breads, special chocolate desserts, wine, and hot drinks will be for sale. If you don’t want to snowshoe you can still come early for a warm meal.

Will Lange (I guess we'll have to believe him when he tells us just how big that fish was)

Will Lange’s New England roots run deep. A child of deaf parents, he grew up speaking sign language and first came to New England to prep school in 1950 as an alternative to reform school in his native New York State. After 40 years in New Hampshire, he and his wife Ida recently moved west, all the way to East Montpelier, VT. Lange’s weekly column, “A Yankee Notebook,” has appeared in several New England newspapers since 1981. He’s a commentator and host for Vermont Public Radio and both Vermont and New Hampshire Public Television. His annual readings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol began in 1975 and continue unabated. He’s published several audio recordings and five books and received an Emmy nomination for one of his pieces on Vermont Public Television. Listen to Will’s story “The White-Footed Mouse” here and to some of his recent VPR commentaries here. Lots more to read and see on his website.

Olga Morrill

Olga Morrill, of Madison, NH enjoys telling stories to all ages. Her background in theater made storytelling seem to her wonderfully simple and straightforward as both entertainment and communication. In 1990 she became youth services librarian at the Conway Public Library. Storytelling was a natural embellishment for programs there, and she offered storytelling workshops for both children and adults. Thus she met Andy Davis. They co-coached several workshops and began attending storytelling conferences annually. In 1996 they started the Mountain Storytellers Guild with Matt Krug for tellers in the area. Olga has told at state swaps, Sharing the Fire’s Northeast Storytelling Conference, schools, and venues around New England.

David Neufeld

Physical storyteller David Neufeld brings an original mix of lyrical, zany, and action packed stories to audiences of all ages. He has been described as “a cross between Gary Larson and Mark Twain.”  His adaptations of folktales transform well-known characters and plots into fresh, modern, romps of acting using voice, illusion, and special effects. His original stories turn ordinary people into comic heroes. Touring internationally since 1979, David has performed for over a million people.

Jo Radner

Jo Radner of Lovell, Maine creates personal tales and stories about the people and history of northern New England. She delights in eccentrics, believes that humor and sadness are good bedfellows, and favors characters whose lives defy simple explanations. Jo is past president of the American Folklore Society and the National Storytelling Network.

Tickets to hear all these wonderful tellers of tales are $15 for adults, $7 for students 13 to 18 and college students with a valid ID. Kids 12 & under are free, but require a ticket reservation to guarantee a seat. The snowshoe excursion, which includes use of the of Tin Mountain’s snowshoes, is included in the ticket price. If you can only come for the snowshoe, a donation to the Storytellers Guild of $5 per person or $10 per family is requested. Tickets are available below, by calling 603-323-8104, and at The Other Store in Tamworth, NH. [Tickets will be on sale at the door, both before the snowshoe excursions and before the afternoon performances.] More info about buying tickets online can be found here.

This event is made possible through the generous support of sponsors The Brass Heart Inn, Settlers’ Green Outlet Village and The Tamworth Inn, co-sponsors Cormack Construction Management and White Mountain Oil and Propane, media sponsor 93.5 WMWV | Magic 104FM and press partners The Conway Daily Sun and The Mountain Ear.

A holiday variety show to be remembered…

It featured: the  first onstage collaboration between Carol Noonan and Dana Cunningham, Rod MacKenzie reading “The Night Before Christmas” in top hat and tails, the Mallar girls doing “Yes, Virginia”,  Seth Austen and Beverly Woods playing Klezmer, Bill Morrissey and Peter Heimlich, Master of Ceremonies George Cleveland in tights with holly berries in his hair, a big sing-along at the end at The Barnstormers Theater…and a par-tridge in a pear tree.

Listen to one part:

Listen to the other part:

Scroll to bottom for links to all 12 days as they arise…

Photo: Terry Leavitt

Visit us here this holiday season for 12 days of exclusive content. ACT’s “12 Days” kicks off on Christmas Day with a few Christmas treats and the North American premiere of Albert Lamb’s radio play Algonquin Suite. Algonquin Suite follows the fortunes of English actors Neil and Edwina Canard, long the toast of London, as they arrive in New York, hoping to break into Broadway, in the final heady days before the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Lamb, a former resident of both Tamworth and Sandwich, stars as American songwriter Alec Limply, with Eleanor Holliday and Nicholas Allen in the roles of Edwina and Neil.

Algonquin Suite will run for several nights, and be followed by a series of ACT performances recorded live. Offerings will include the Back Bay Guitar Trio, GiveWay, Le Vent du Nord, Hanneke Cassel, Harry Manx, Red Molly, Gràda, Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, and the Two Man Gentlemen Band. Visit daily to learn the fate of Neil and Edwina, and to enjoy hours of eclectic music. Listen while you can: the music will be taken down with the Christmas trees and the garlands on January 6th… ACT wishes you a peaceful, joyful holiday season and a Happy New Year.

Dana Cunningham & Carol Noonan. Photo: Terry Leavitt

To view slide shows associated with each concert, click on the links to individual posts rather than viewing from the main page of the website.

1st of 12: A Weary World Rejoices 2004

1st of 12: The Algonquin Suite, Part 1

2nd of 12: The Algonquin Suite, Part 2

3rd of 12: The Algonquin Suite, Part 3

4th of 12: The Algonquin Suite, Part 4

5th of 12: The Algonquin Suite, Part 5

6th of 12: Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem

7th of 12: Red Molly

8th of 12: Harry Manx – September 24, 2005

9th of 12: GiveWay Takes Tamworth

10th of 12: The Cellist Wore Red Cowboy Boots

11th of 12: A North Wind Blows Through Tamworth

12th of 12: The Two Man Gentlemen Band

Photo: M. Hakola Photography

ACT! for Kids will present a children’s workshop in Movement Exploration and Modern Dance, led by renowned teacher Jeanne Limmer, on Saturday, January 16 from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. at the Tamworth Town House in Tamworth, NH. Movement and rhythm are part of our everyday world and children naturally want to move and explore. In this workshop Limmer will create a safe space in which these explorations can happen, and offer a range of movements that build a sense of potential and possibility in the children. No experience is necessary; all kids need are bare feet and comfortable clothing in which they can easily move.

Jeanne Limmer is a dancer, a choreographer, the founder—26 years ago—and director of the Jeanne Limmer Dance Center, a Roster Artist with the NH State Council on the Arts for Arts in Education, and especially a beloved teacher of dance—from classical and modern to jazz and tap—to students of all ages from preschoolers through adults. In recent years Limmer has traveled the state bringing movement exploration in the classroom, using movement as an exciting tool for exploring academics from science to math, environmental studies to geography, literacy to global citizenship. Children K-12 have learned to rely on each other while physically bringing these studies to life. Limmer is also one of the dancers participating in Extending the Dance Map, a project funded by the Dana foundation, to recruit and train dancers to become teaching artists in the North Country.

Movement Exploration and Modern Dance is geared toward kids ages seven to 10, and costs $5.00 per child. Space is limited: please email act@artstamworth.org or call 603-323-8104 to pre-register.

ACT! for Kids is made possible by the Rey Foundation. Find out more about their work at www.reyfoundation.org. Upcoming children’s programs include a bookmaking workshop with Jay Rancourt in February and a Chicken Art workshop with Lianne Prentice and Nicole Maher-Whiteside in March. Information about future ACT! for Kids workshops can be found here.